


Hate is like Water in a Dry Gulch

by InsomniacIdea



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, My First Fanfic, Public Display of Affection, Racism, Westboro Baptist Church
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:02:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23340649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsomniacIdea/pseuds/InsomniacIdea
Summary: Akaashi and Bokuto come across a Westboro Baptist Church protest at their college. Naturally, Bokuto has to make a scene.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 88





	Hate is like Water in a Dry Gulch

**Author's Note:**

> Set in America, with Bokuto being a native Japanese-American and Akaashi being an international student.
> 
> Constructive criticism is much appreciated :)

Keiji was carefully watching the digital clock on his computer. He and Koutarou had been planning a movie night tonight at the older’s dorm and this professor had a habit of running over the time she was supposed to. As interesting as English grammar rules are, he would much rather be heading back to his boyfriends dorm for a night of fun and relaxation. When the clock hit 2:15 Keiji began to slowly pack up his things, shutting his laptop quietly and waiting for the middle aged woman to wrap up her tangent. A couple minutes later, when she went to her computer to switch slides, she saw the time.

“Oh, I’m sorry guys. We’ll continue this next Monday, until then, make sure you are writing that analysis.”

Keiji let out a sigh of relief, up and out the door seconds later. He waved a goodbye at the two girls who he normally went out to coffee with after English, and headed in the opposite direction. Halfway down the hallway, he heard his name shouted from behind him/

Confused, he turned around. Down the hallway was Koutarou, slowly jogging towards him. He looked good today, not that he normally looked bad, but he was especially put together with a crisp button down and slacks. His shirt was no longer tucked into his pants, of course, and Keiji spied a tie halfway hanging out of his boyfriends mostly unzipped backpack, but the thought was there.

“I was waiting for you.” He bumped his shoulder into the shorter man’s “And then Cassie and Priya passed and I was like ‘What? Where’s my bro?’, but they said that you said that you weren’t getting coffee today, so I was going back home and viola here you are!” 

Keiji intertwined their hands, “Please tell me you didn’t call me, your boyfriend, ‘bro’.”

Koutarou threw back his head with a loud laugh, “Bro can be used for anyone. It has no gender, no plural or singular form, no formality, and no rules of familiarity.” He grinned “It’s universal, baby”

“Please stop using those terms. I just got out of an hour long lecture about word usage and conjugations and I can’t take anymore.”

“If that’s what you want, my darling Keiji.” He heard kissy noises directed at him, but elected to ignore them.

After starting a brief argument about what food they should order for their movie night and whether they should invite Tetsurou and whatever poor sap he convinced to date him this month, Keiji cut off Koutarou’s rant about “But Tetsu brings booze and booze brings fun” to ask “Hey, is there something going on today?”

Kou, obviously confused about the change of subject, frowned down at him, “I don’t think so, why?” In response, Keiji just nodded ahead.

The couple was approaching the quad, and while it normally had quite a few students, milling around or studying or selling cookies for their club, this was kind of unprecedented. There was a huge crowd, clustered around the Speaker’s Circle, where students could share poetry or practice speeches and the area was specifically engineered to carry sound to anyone that was seated on the concrete benches around it.

“Bro,” Keiji gaze quickly shot up to his boyfriend, giving a warning glace he just met with a cheeky wink, “Let’s go check it out.”

Keiji nodded in affirmation and they walked towards the crowd, getting louder and louder as they drew closer. It was curious how the students were acting. Instead of intently listening to the speaker, they were having side conversations, laughing, dancing, some were even taking videos.

Hitting the wall of students, the two men pushed through, hearing strange segments of conversations: “But what if I eat the baby”, “Assholes are kinda sexy, if I had a dick, I’d fuck one”, “I mean I wouldn’t say taking out all of Kansas would be fair, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing ever, right?”, even a group of 6 or 7 men that had started to chant “You’re all virgins” and clapping 5 times.

Making it through the throng, Keiji was greeted with the sight of 3 men and 2 women in the speaker’s circle, all white and around maybe their 50s, waving around signs. He heard a disappointed “Oh no” from beside him. 

Confused, Keiji turned to his boyfriend, “What? Who are they?”

Koutarou didn’t take his eyes off the 5 people, “They are,” He trailed off, sighing, “They’re from this thing called the Westboro Baptist Church. It’s this-I guess religion, but kind of cult from Kansas that is like, super mega anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-divorce, anti-abortion, anti-Christian, anti-Judaism. They’re kinda fucked up and like to go around and make people mad.”

Keiji trained his gaze on the people again, no, church members, one seemed to be shouting so loud a vein was going to pop in his forehead. “Is there anything they do support?” Surveying the members, he saw a small child - no more than 6 - sitting on the short wall behind the group. He had his own sign (it read “DEATH PENALTY 4 FAGS”) but he seemed to be more interested in kicking his feet against the gray stone than spreading hate.

“Well, they’re big fans of school shooters and soldiers dying in war.”

He hummed his understanding, still staring at the little boy. He felt incredibly sorry for him. The fact that he would probably be in this “church” for the rest of his life, poisoned by the views of his parents was devastating.

His attention was drawn away by Koutarou leaving his side. Keiji watched him walk over to a woman with a megaphone who was yelling that “The Bible is an imperfect translation.” and lean down to say something in her ear.

She stopped, paused, and then smiled up at Kou, nodding and offering him the megaphone. Keiji watched, intrigued, as his boyfriend made his way back over to him. “How do you feel like putting on a show.” His eyes promised trouble and who was Keiji to say no. “Follow me.”

He moved behind Koutarou, grateful for the older man’s size and presence parting the crowd easily. They skirted the front of the crowd until they hit the retaining wall, climbing up and walking around it to be behind the parishioners and in front of the crowd, only a couple of meters from the boy, who was staring up at Keiji with wide eyes.

“Excuse me! I’ve got something I wanna say!”

Koutarou’s already loud voice amplified by the megaphone drew the crowd’s attention, their loud jeering dulling to a few scattered mumbles of conversations. The church members were even quieted for a second before they went back to their ineffective yelling.

Keiji watched his boyfriend grin fondly as he spoke, “Thank you. I have someone I’d like to introduce,” The older gestured to him wildly with his free hand, eyes alight with mischief as he gazed out at the crowd, “This is Keiji Akaashi. He’s 6 feet tall, 19 years old, and he left everything he knew to move to America and study at one of the best universities in the world.”

There were a couple loud whoops from the crowd and Keiji’s face began to burn. He hoped no one noticed the redness. 

“I am incredibly proud to call him my boyfriend.” Okay, he was done for, “Yes, he’s got a dick and no, he doesn’t have tits, but I love him more than anything.” Kou stopped to gaze down at him lovingly for a second, a second that seemed to stretch on forever as he stared up into the golden eyes of his best friend and soulmate. Koutarou turned away.

“And for the sake of these five hateful people, I’d like to demonstrate my love.”

Kou set down the megaphone beside him, hopped off the retaining wall and held out a hand to Keiji. He was so bright. His face was locked in an expression of joy and Keiji’s angle above him had his muscular body framed with sunlight with a bold smile promising the world. It was the smile he fell in love with. Keiji took the offered hand and jumped down, Koutarou’s arm reflexively curling around his waist. Not waiting a second, the gray-haired man grabbed his hand and rushed to the protester’s circle, stopping in the center and using Keiji’s momentum to push him into his arms.

He smiled down at him again, “Can I kiss you?”

Keiji shook his head fondly with a small smile gracing his pink lips, reaching up and dragging his boyfriend face down to meet him. 

As their lips touch, the world is unmuted. The crowd explodes into motion: cheering and whistling and chanting. The church members also go wild, but instead of supporting the two, screaming bible verses and slinging slurs.

But the couple are in their own world. Koutarou’s bites at Keiji’s bottom lip and he willingly opens up for the other’s tongue. Keiji’s hands travel from his neck down his chest as larger, more callused ones go to cup his ass through his jeans. Keiji smiles against the kiss as the crowd grows even more excited. 

Several eternities later, they part, a visible string of saliva connecting their mouths for a second before it breaks. Kou smiles at Keiji, again offering his hand. Keiji smiles back and takes it, beginning to walk back towards the crowd and towards their dorms. They had proved their point.

When they hit the ring of students, though, Keiji feels a soft impact on his back. Confused, he lets go of his boyfriend’s hand and turns around. On the ground there’s a pocket bible, probably thrown by one of the protesters. He looks at the little boy, kicking his untied shoes against the wall in boredom, brandishing a sign condemning him, Koutarou, and millions more to death. Keiji bends down and picks up the Bible, looking at it for a second before walking calmly back towards where he was making out with his lover only seconds earlier. He stands in front of the man closest to him, wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the American flag and the words ”God hates fags”, boasting two signs condemning the LGBTQ+ community, crude depictions of gay sex and all. The crowd falls to a hush and Keiji can see Koutarou take a few uncertain steps towards him out of the corner of his eye.

He holds out the bible to the man quietly offering it to him, “I think you dropped this.”

The man curls his lip, disgusted. “May God strike you down where you stand, you faggot. Your blood will be put upon you as written in the Bible”

Keiji stays impassive, leaning down to place the bible in front of the man’s boots before locking eye contact. “I hope you realize all the pain you’ve caused.” He turns his gaze towards the child, “One day, you’ll have the chance to leave. Remember that.”

The man’s face becomes even redder with anger. “Get away from me and my son, you dirty chink.”

The crowd’s recoil was almost audible, appalled at the unapologetically racist slur. Keiji himself did not flinch, calmly turning around and walking back towards his boyfriend even as the five members hurled insults at his back.

As he reached Koutarou, the older man grabbed the sides of his face, “Fuck, Keiji, you’re so hot.” He kissed him deeply once, “I love you so much,” He kissed him again, trying to go for a third before he was stopped by Keiji’s hand on his lips

“Let’s go home, Kou.”

“Your wish is my command.” He smiled, and the two set off to the cheers of the college.


End file.
